The list of outstanding young pianists presented by the UAB Piano Series increased by one Sunday afternoon.

Andrew Tyson, a 24-year-old North Carolina native whose showings in worldwide competitions have started him on a promising career, offered a program of romantic-era music with a touch of Bach, all the while displaying blistering technique and coaxing the music with furtive glances and silent vocal utterances directed at the keyboard.

J.S. Bach's Partita No. 1 in B flat was crisply etched, each voice in its complex textures cleanly heard. Tyson's spare use of the sustain pedal allowed a combination of control and clarity.

In Chopin's four mazurkas from Op. 17, Tyson flexed his romantic muscle. The halting rhythms and melodic jumps of No. 1 were artfully played, though the two slow mazurkas from the set could have used a more poetic approach. No. 3, which alternates between brash and tender, veered toward the former.

ANDREW TYSON, PIANIST

Alys Stephens CenterSundayPresented by UAB Piano Series

Four stars out of five

In Cesar Franck's "Prelude, Choral and Fugue," Tyson let loose. His monstrous technique served him well with the work's succession of arpeggios, wide swaths of crescendos and pounding chords and low octaves. Fortitude, combined with layering and focus, brought the work home.

Tyson's searching rendition of Robert Schumann's Symphonic Etudes, Op. 13, found several passages of inward lyricism among the majestic and fiery moments. With 18 movements of nearly relentless intensity, it's no surprise that the pianist's otherwise near-perfect technique lagged a bit. Not so his romantic fervor.